Hard Return
Video, steel, electronics
60 x 384 x 24 in
152.4 x 957.4 x 60.9 cm
2004
Richard Humann • Hard Return • Video, steel, electronics • 60 x 384 x 24 in • 2004
In Hard Return, Richard Humann explores the passage of time, the limits of identity, and the gradual disappearance of the self. The kinetic sculpture traverses a 30-foot span of gallery space, carrying a video projector back and forth along a metal track. Its movement mimics the carriage-return mechanism of an old-fashioned typewriter, transforming a familiar writing process into a mechanical performance.
The projected video shows a close-up of a typewriter striking words onto the gallery wall. However, the text runs in reverse, progressively erasing a poetic declaration of self-awareness and the finite nature of life. The message begins, “Twelve words, I am moving quickly towards the end of what is called me,” and diminishes until only the words “One word, I” remain. As the projector moves across the gallery, language is stripped away, reducing a statement of identity to its most basic assertion.
The work’s title refers both to the typewriter’s return mechanism and to the possibility of a return that cannot restore what has been lost. The machine repeats its movement while the message steadily disappears, creating a tension between mechanical repetition and irreversible time. What begins as an affirmation becomes an act of subtraction, making the disappearance of language a metaphor for the finite duration of individual existence.
Through movement, projection, and erasure, Hard Return turns writing into a performance of time passing. The viewer witnesses identity being reduced word by word, confronting the fragile relationship between language and the self. As the message contracts from a complete declaration to a single letter, Humann asks what remains of us as time runs out—and how much of the self can be contained in the simple word “I.”
Richard Humann • Hard Return • Video, steel, electronics • 60 x 384 x 24 in • 2004
Richard Humann • Hard Return • Video, steel, electronics • 60 x 384 x 24 in • 2004
Photo credits: J.B. Grant / Richard Humann Studio